Archive for April, 2016

Back in 2000, the Paignton Congress hosted the Golombek Memorial Tournament, celebrating the life of the great player and writer. In addition, there was a display of Golombek memorabilia donated by his friend, Gerry Walsh, who was acting as Arbiter for the main event. Among the items was an extraordinary letter, which read thus:

“10th July 1952. Dear Mr. Golombek, Do you really think you can escape responsibility for the article of A. H. Trott (in the Times). You are a Director of the magazine (BCM) and its Games Editor. Moreover, you saw my game with Euwe played, analysed it – without consulting me, of course, as you usually do – and wrote a report in the Times. This report concerning my game was false and deliberately misleading. It was your job to see that such a ghastly untruth was stopped… and insinuating on top of it that I did not play the second game because I was afraid. I assure you, I’ll make you pay for this insolence of yours and your associate intrigrants.

Yours truly, E. Klein.”

What on earth was it all that about?

Ernst Klein (1910-1990) was the British Champion at the time and had just played Bd. 1 in the 1st round of an Anglo-Dutch match against the former World Champion, securing a draw after Euwe lost the exchange. Several writers reported that Klein had been “very lucky”, and it was this perceived slight that so incensed him. In protest, he not only withdrew from playing the 2nd game but didn’t play again for over 20 years. Although an extreme reaction by Klein, he was known for his short fuse and acerbic tongue.

30.Nxd4? B. H. Wood, no great friend of Golombek, wrote in Chess“Klein saw deeply into a complicated position. Even had Euwe not taken the pawn that lost him the exchange, playing, for instance, 30.Bf6 how is he to answer 30…Nc4?” du Mont in The Field suggested 30.Qh6 Nxg7 31.Bf6 Ne6 32.g5 Nb7 33.Rf4 with the unanswerable threat of 34. Qxh7+ Kxh7 35.Rh4+ Kg8 36.Rh8 mate, but this begs a lot of questions. Euwe himself pointed out that 30.Qh6! wins. e.g. 30…Nc4 31.Nf4! Nxf4 32.Rxf4 after which he could see nothing better for Black than 32…Ne3 33.g5! and if 33…Nxd1 34.Qxh7+ Kxh7 35.Rh4+ Kxg7 36.Bf6+ Kf8 37.Rh8#. The game itself then finished… 30…Qxd4 31.Qxd4 Nxd4 32.Rxd4 Nc6 33.Bf6 Nxd4 34.Bxd4 Ra4 35.Rd1 Rac4 36.Bc3 Rxc3 37.bxc3 Rxc3 38.e5 d5 39.Rxd5 Kxg7 40.Rd8 Bc6 41.Bxc6 Rxc6 42.Rd5 ½–½.

A number of leading chess players have died in recent months, among them England Olympiad veteran Peter Clarke (81) from north Cornwall; financier Jim Slater (86) who called Bobby Fischer a “chicken” in the run-up to his famous 1972 world championship match with Spassky, which, together with a £5,000 bonus from Slater, stung the American into actually turning up; Jeremy James (79) who presented chess tournaments on BBC TV in the 1970s under the title “The Master Game”; writer Dr. Colin Crouch (58) and problemist Sir Jeremy Morse (87), former Chairman of Lloyd’s Bank.

A good advert, incidentally, for the longevity of chessplayers.

David Norwood, a grandmaster who abandoned a career in chess to amass a fortune in commodity trading, took it upon himself to commemorate their lives and achievements in the game by organising and underwriting a very strong blitz chess tournament at the King’s Head pub in Bayswater on 27th February. Sixty four of England’s strongest players played in 8 All-Play-All leagues in the early rounds, changing to knockout when it was down to the last 16 players.

The rate of moves was 3 minutes per player for all moves, but with the digital clocks being used, 2 seconds were added each time a move was made. Unfortunately, electronic boards were not available to record the moves automatically, being played at almost lightning speed, but the later games were videoed and may be seen on-line; just visit www.youtube.com and search for “Beer and blitz – Celebration in Memoriam”.

Four grandmasters made the semi-finals, in which Michael Adams beat Luke McShane and Mark Hebden beat Simon Williams. In the final, Cornishman Adams beat Hebden in Game 1 with Black against a Ruy Lopez, and drew Game 2, netting him the £700 first prize. It was another example, if ever one was needed, of Adams’ supreme chess skill – speed of thought and deep knowledge of the game.

Last week’s position was an illustration of the “power of the check”. Whatever else is possible, a check must be dealt with first, which allows White to win a piece with 1.QxB+ KxQ 2.RxQ.

Sir Jeremy Morse, was something of a polymath. After Winchester, he took a Double First at Oxford, and was elected a fellow of All Souls. Not only one of the finest minds of his generation in the City, he was, amongst other things, a classics scholar, a pianist, a lover of poetry and a solver and composer of cryptic crosswords. He was an international chess judge, and in retirement published Chess Problems: Tasks and Records, (Faber & Faber 1995) a collection of some 837 problems, about 50 of them of his own devising. His speciality was the 2-mover, the “purest of all chess exercises”. Here is one of his own compositions from that book.

As reported earlier, the appearance of the Dutchman, Thomas Broek, added to the interest in the Championship section of the recent WECU Congress, with some enterprising, uninhibited play, as in this last round game.

Two Westcountry congresses now follow each other in quick succession. Firstly, the 27th Frome Congress takes place Friday 13th–15th May at Selwood Academy. One can now enter on-line at their website somersetchess.org.

Then there is the 48th Cotswold Congress held over Whit Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday 28th – 30th May at King’s School Gloucester. More information may be found on their website, cotswoldcongress.co.uk.

Last week’s position ended in a queen sacrifice viz 1.Qg8+ and it can only be taken by 1…Raxg8 which leaves the knight free to come to f7 mate because the other rook is pinned and the king is hemmed in by his own pieces. This is known in the trade as a “smothered mate”.

This position is also from the London Classic. The position is complicated, with both queens en prise. There is no clever mate here, so how does White cut through the Gordian Knot of complex variations and keep it simple.

The Final round began at 10 am on Easter Monday. After his gentle draw against Rudd in the previous round Arkell was not inclined to offer any more, lest he be caught, so steered through to a risk-free win against Fallowfield. On Bd. 2 Broek played an Evans Gambit against Rudd, and the two rattled out the opening 12 moves in just a few minutes, at which point Broek forced the win of the exchange, and it was game on. The price the Dutchman paid for that was having his queen trapped in a corner for 22 moves, but held his nerve and eventually won more material, until Black resigned a whole rook down.

As the rounds went on, so the number of draws increased, as one would expect, but not to the point where interest in the eventual outcome waned. Arkell did win a difficult endgame with Black against McMichael in the morning, though when he found he was Black again in the afternoon, it left him inclined to agree a short draw against his nearest-rated opponent, Jack Rudd.

Jeremy Menadue of Truro won the Grading Prize at the recent West of England Congress and also qualified for the British Championship, due in no small measure to this last round win.

The opening is named after the Hungarian, Richard Reti (1889 – 1929) who was a pioneer of the “Hypermodern” school of chess theory after WWI. The need for control of the centre of the chessboard is paramount, but whereas the 19th century “Romantics” believed this was only possible through occupation of the central squares with pawns supported by pieces, these conventional ideas broke down after the Great War, in chess much the same as in many other areas of the Arts. The Hypermoderns were happy to cede the centre in the opening, and then undermine it from the flanks. A new idea that caught on and is still with us, being by far the most popular opening amongst today’s top players, though it didn’t do much good for White in this game.

The opening round having gone mostly according to the form book, Rd. 2 commenced in the afternoon. Again, no major surprises with the top 5 seeds all winning; only 6th seed Andrew Smith lost, having had to meet Keith Arkell so early on. Thomas Broek, having announced his presence with a very quick win in Rd. 1, won again, but from a very interesting position that had problem-like qualities to it.

Here are the results:-

Rd. 2 WECU Open 2016

Bd

White

Black

1

Arkell

(1)

1

0

Smith

(1)

2

Fallowfield

(1)

0

1

Rudd

(1)

3

McMichael

(1)

1

0

Bass

(1)

4

De Coverley

(1)

0

1

Broek

(1)

5

James

(1)

1

0

Snook-Lumb

(1)

6

Dilleigh

(1)

½

½

Jamroz

(½)

7

Shaw

(0)

½

½

Bartlett

(½)

8

Burton

(0)

0

1

Bolt

(½)

9

Menadue

(0)

1

0

Hickman

(0)

10

French

(½)

0

1

Littlejohns

(½)

11

Wilson

(0)

1

0

Gamble

(0)

12

Wensley

(0)

1

0

Benson

(0)

13

Woodward

(0)

½

bye

McMichael vs Bass (nearest) & de Coverley vs Broek.

de Coverley vs Broek ending. Black to play and win.

Fallowfield vs Rudd (nearest) & Arkell vs Smith.

Bottom boards in the Minor, with Geoff Taylor between Hazel Welch and Marian Cox. Geoff qualified for the British Championship from the Open a few years ago. |Ill health has subsequently affected his form but not his keenness to keep playing.

Exmouth’s final match in Devon’s premier inter-club competition was against old rivals Teignmouth, at the Manor Hotel on Exmouth’s Beacon, overlooking the sea, with Teignmouth town feintly visible on the other side of the bay.

Looking at the team lists and grades, one might assume this could be an easy proposition for the cup holders, were it not for three things; (a) nothing is certain in chess (b) Exmouth were 3 X 170+ players light, for various reasons, including a family wedding and an Exeter City vs Plymouth Argyle match and (c) on the night of the recent Storm Katie, with the winds howling all around the town, the non-playing Captain, Bob Jones, heard a loud bang in the middle of the night. In the morning, fearing the worst and expecting some degree of structural damage to the house, as there had been in the previous storm only a couple of weeks earlier, he found the noise had been caused by the Bremridge Cup falling off its perch for no apparent reason. Could all this be an omen?

In the event, Teignmouth, too, were under-strength, with their top player, Alan Brusey, unwell. Yet the games went on and on – there were no quick wins anywhere. In fact, it was only when the endgames were reached that the differences in grade began to tell. All 6 games then finished within quite a short time of each other, and suddenly the match was over.

EXMOUTH

Grd

TEIGNMOUTH

Grd

1

John Stephens

196

1

0

Bill Ingham

158

2

Dr. Jon Underwood

184

1

0

Nathan Mills

154

3

Steve Martin

183

1

0

Peter E. Halmkin

151

4

Brian Gosling

157

1

0

Rev. Charles Doidge

129

5

Chris Scott

150

1

0

John Ariss

121

6

Steve Murray

150

1

0

Norman F. Tidy

119

1,020

6

0

832

This left Exmouth with 3 won matches and one drawn. The match they came closest to losing was against Exeter, where Exeter were leading 3-2 and one unclear ending in progress. In the event, Brian Gosling found a clever pseudo-sacrificial move that won the game and saved the match.

Exmouth’s final match in Devon’s premier inter-club competition was against old rivals Teignmouth, at the Manor Hotel on Exmouth’s Beacon, overlooking the sea, with Teignmouth town feintly visible on the other side of the bay.

Looking at the team lists and grades, one might assume this could be an easy proposition for the cup holders, were it not for three things; (a) nothing is certain in chess (b) Exmouth were 3 X 170+ players light, for various reasons, including a family wedding and an Exeter City vs Plymouth Argyle match and (c) on the night of the recent Storm Katie, with the winds howling all around the town, the non-playing Captain, Bob Jones, heard a loud bang in the middle of the night. In the morning, fearing the worst and expecting some degree of structural damage to the house, as there had been in the previous storm only a couple of weeks earlier, he found the noise had been caused by the Bremridge Cup falling off its perch for no apparent reason. Could all this be an omen?

In the event, Teignmouth, too, were under-strength, with their top player, Alan Brusey, unwell. Yet the games went on and on – there were no quick wins anywhere. In fact, it was only when the endgames were reached that the differences in grade began to tell. All 6 games then finished within quite a short time of each other, and suddenly the match was over.

Bremridge Cup (Div. 1) 02.04.2016.

EXMOUTH

EXMOUTH

EXMOUTH

EXMOUTH

1

John Stephens

1

John Stephens

1

John Stephens

1

John Stephens

1

2

Dr. Jon Underwood

2

Dr. Jon Underwood

2

Dr. Jon Underwood

2

Dr. Jon Underwood

2

3

Steve Martin

3

Steve Martin

3

Steve Martin

3

Steve Martin

3

4

Brian Gosling

4

Brian Gosling

4

Brian Gosling

4

Brian Gosling

4

5

Chris Scott

5

Chris Scott

5

Chris Scott

5

Chris Scott

5

6

Steve Murray

6

Steve Murray

6

Steve Murray

6

Steve Murray

6

This left Exmouth with 3 won matches and one drawn. The match they came closest to losing was against Exeter, where Exeter were leading 3-2 and one unclear ending in progress. In the event, Brian Gosling found a clever pseudo-sacrificial move that won the game and saved the match.